Repsol Honda Team commence final test in Qatar

The final pre-season test of 2017 began this afternoon at Qatar’s Losail Circuit. The green lights went on at 4 p.m. local time, but Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa only took to the track after dusk, around 6 and 6:30 p.m. respectively, when conditions were more similar to what awaits in the race-weekend sessions.

The Repsol Honda men began going through their busy testing programs, working on setup, electronics and aerodynamics. Dani finished the day in 8th with his time of 1’55.692” on lap 21 of 38. Marc, who escaped unhurt from two small tumbles—in the final corner around 8 p.m. and in turn 2 less than an hour before the end of the session—completed a total of 39 laps, with his best time of 1’55.899” (on lap 16) placing him 12th overall.

Testing will continue for two more nights.

Dani Pedrosa

8th1’55.692

“As always, on the first day in Qatar you need to adapt to the situation because it’s the first time riding at night, compared to the previous tests, and the track is always a little bit dirty. This means that you need to take some time to understand the track conditions and adapt well. In addition, at the end it was quite difficult, because the track temperature went down and the humidity rose quickly; it wasn’t easy to see the moisture while on the bike, and we saw many crashes. It was best to stop early. Today we focused mainly on working on the rhythm, trying to set up the bike a little bit more for the pace. We need to keep improving and I think today we did part of the job, but we need to continue tomorrow.”

Marc Marquez

12th1’55.899

“We can’t say today was one of the best for us, but it’s only day one and we worked hard on trying many, many different things, including a new fairing that we want to test further. Some of them worked well, while others must be adjusted. I’m not very worried about the fast lap because our rhythm wasn’t bad, so I’m satisfied with it. I had two small crashes; the first one was my fault as I braked a bit too late, while the second was a classic at this track as it came almost at the end of the session when the temperature had dropped and conditions weren’t good anymore. Anyway, tomorrow is another day, and we’ll work more on the bike’s setup for this track and try to improve.”

MotoGP 2017Friday, March 10th 2017

TestingQatar Official TestQatar

Results Day 1

Night

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Dovizioso Andrea

04

ITA

Ducati Team

Ducati

1'54.819

2

Vinales Maverick

25

SPA

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

0.360

3

Crutchlow Cal

35

GBR

Honda

0.601

4

Abraham Karel

17

CZE

Pull&Bear Aspar Team

Ducati

0.794

5

Lorenzo Jorge

99

SPA

Ducati Team

Ducati

0.797

6

Folger Jonas

94

GER

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

0.821

7

Rossi Valentino

46

ITA

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

0.860

8

Pedrosa Dani

26

SPA

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

0.873

9

Zarco Johann

5

FRA

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

0.886

10

Iannone Andrea

29

ITA

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

0.932

11

Petrucci Danilo

9

ITA

Octo Pramac Racing

Ducati

1.011

12

Marquez Marc

93

SPA

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

1.080

13

Espargaro Aleix

41

SPA

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

1.097

14

Miller Jack

43

AUS

Marc VDS Racing Team

Honda

1.198

15

Redding Scott

45

GBR

Octo Pramac Racing

Ducati

1.266

16

Bautista Alvaro

19

SPA

Pull&Bear Aspar Team

Ducati

1.297

17

Baz Loris

76

FRA

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

1.374

18

Rins Alex

42

SPA

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

1.770

19

Espargaro Pol

44

SPA

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1.846

20

Lowes Sam

22

GBR

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

2.271

21

Rabat Tito

53

SPA

Marc VDS Racing Team

Honda

2.636

22

Kallio Mika

36

FIN

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

3.220

23

Smith Bradley

38

GBR

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

3.936

Gallery

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Location Information

The fabulous Losail International Circuit lies on the outskirts of Doha, the capital city of Qatar. Built in little over a year, the track cost $58 million USD and required round-the-clock dedication from almost 1,000 workers in order to get it ready for the inaugural event – the Marlboro Grand… read more.

Location Information

The fabulous Losail International Circuit lies on the outskirts of Doha, the capital city of Qatar. Built in little over a year, the track cost $58 million USD and required round-the-clock dedication from almost 1,000 workers in order to get it ready for the inaugural event – the Marlboro Grand… read more.